Untitled Essay, Research Paper

Don & # 8217 ; t Talk to Cops By Robert W. Zeuner, Member of the New York State Bar Typed by: The Mad Alchemist | Lunatic Labs BBS 415-278-7421 1200/2400 Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia! & # 8220 ; Good Morning! My name is investigator Holmes. Make you mind replying a few simple inquiries? & # 8221 ; If you open your door one twenty-four hours and are greeted with those words, STOP AND THINK! Whether it is the local constabulary or the FBI at your door, you have certain legal rights of which you ought to be cognizant before you proceed any farther. In the first topographic point, when jurisprudence enforcement governments come to see you, there are no & # 8220 ; simple inquiries & # 8221 ; . Unless they are look intoing a traffic accident, you can be certain that they want information about person. And that person may be you! Rule figure one to retrieve when confronted by the governments is that there is no jurisprudence necessitating you to speak with the constabulary, the FBI, or the representative of any other fact-finding bureau. Even the simplest inquiries may be loaded and the apparently harmless spots of information which you volunteer may subsequently go critical links in a concatenation of circumstantial grounds against you or a friend. DO NOT INVITE THE INVESTIGATOR INTO YOUR HOME! Such an invitation non merely gives him the chance to look around for hints to your life style, friends, reading stuff, etc. , but besides tends to protract the conversation. The longer the conversation, the more opportunity there is for a accomplishment research worker to happen out what he wants to cognize. Many times a constabulary officer will inquire you to attach to him to the constabulary station to reply a few Q

uestions. In that case, simply thank him for the invitation and indicate that you are not disposed to accept it at this time. Often the authorities simply want to photograph a person for identification purposes, a procedure which is easily accomplished by placing him in a private room with a two-way mirror at the station, asking him a few innocent questions, and then releasing him. If the investigator becomes angry at your failure to cooperate and threatens you with arrest, stand firm. He cannot legally place you under arrest or enter your home without a warrent signed by a judge. If he indicates that he has such a warrent, ask to see it. A person under arrest, or located on premises to be searched, generally must be shown a warrent if he requests it and must be given to chance to read it. Without a warrent, an officer depends solely upon your helpfulness to obtain the information he wants. So, unless you are quite sure of yourself, don’t be helpful. Probably the wisest approach to take to a persistant investigator is simply to say: “I’m quite busy now. If you have any questions that you feel I can answer, I’d be happy to listen to them in my lawyer’s office. Goodbye!” Talk is cheap. When that talk involves the law enforcement authorities, it may cost you, or someone close to you, dearly. This info came from a leaflet that was printed as a public service by individuals concerned with the growing role of authoritarianism and police power in our society. Please feel free to copy or republish. This info also applies to dealing with private investigators, and corporate security agents.